Abstract: A method is provided for cleaning a membrane surface or maintaining a clean outside surface of a membrane during a process of outside-in membrane separation to remove suspended solids from a liquid phase. The method involves applying pressurized gas pulses to the membrane surface with individual pulse lengths of about 0.1 to 10 seconds. The pulses may be injected singularly with an interval of about 10 to 1000 seconds between pulses for a total duration of about 0.1 to 1000 hours. Alternatively, the pulses may be injected in clusters of about 2 to 100 pulses with an interval of 50-300% of the pulse length between individual pulses for a total duration of about 10 to 1000 seconds. In a preferred embodiment, both types of pulsation methods are combined in a particular sequence. The expanding gas directed toward the membrane surface in the course of one pulse dissipates energy of up to about 40 kJ/m3.